Book : THE MIND OF A TERRORIST : The Strange Case of David Headley.
Author : Kaare Sorensen.
Publisher : Penguin Books.
Pages : 349.
Price : Rs 599/-
David Headley, who conceptualised the precise and stunning attacks in Mumbai, knows the secret about terror. Modern day Islamic terrorism is about killing and the mastermind is one of the very few Americans who have become involved in terror. He is one of several creators of fear. He has been involved with Islamic terror at the absolute highest levels and gained access to some of the world’s most sought after men. His life has been characterised by lies, deceit and manipulation. That made him the perfect man for the jobs of drug dealer, informer and terrorist. Altogether Headley found more than twenty targets for terrorism in India which he reported to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT), a terrorist outfit in Pakistan. He also delivered roughly fifty hours worth of video from Mumbai.
The book – The Mind of a Terrorist: The Strange Case Of David Headley – authored by Kaare Sorensen is a painstaking reconstruction of real events. All dialogues, all the people, meetings and descriptions are based on comprehensive collection of documentation. There are more than 300 previously unpublished emails and private letters sent by Headley who meticulously planned the Mumbai terrorist attack on November 26, 2008 lasting nearly four days till September 29.
The spotlight of the world was on this brazen attack for the first time using the sea route after intense recce with photographs of the various places for having the maximum impact. Police authorities in the Western metropolis were caught off guard. The then Congress led UPA government at the Centre also took its time and was inexplicably late in despatching the specialised National Security Guard (NSG) to Mumbai.
Meanwhile, the ten young trigger happy terrorists though nervous played their part carrying out the instructions being relayed over satellite phone to be ruthless and be martyred. However, one of the terrorists, Kasab, was caught which was very disappointing as he spilled the beans that they belonged to the dreaded LeT. In the mayhem that ensued, 170 persons including foreigners were killed and more than 300 injured.
The book is a journey into David Headley’s chaotic life. It’s a journey through his thoughts and ideas. His actions. The killings. Why all of it happened. In part in his own words. To fight fear and to understand, Sorensen observed “we need to get into the mind of a terrorist.” Perhaps the words instilled in the minds of the terrorists by their masters in Pakistan over the past weeks and days: “This is a struggle between Islam and the unbelievers. We’re the people God has chosen to defend our religion against the unbelievers.”
The landing in Mumbai was a piece of cake for all the ten terrorists. Eight of them landed at a fisherman’s village in South Mumbai and the remaining two went a little ahead and came ashore. They quietly split in four groups of two each and did not receive any undue attention. The fifth pair also went about the task assigned to them. All the ten young terrorists were given Hindu names. Each of the pair had been assigned specific targets so that there was no confusion. The first attack was on the Leopold cafe in crowded Colaba in South Mumbai. It was a gathering place for western business people, Indian drug dealers and happy world travellers with Lonely Planet books in their hand and credit cards in their pockets.
The other targets among a dozen included the Taj Hotel, Oberoi Trident complex and the Jewish study centre known as Chabad – carefully concealed in a five story building called Nariman House. A lone terrorist was captured alive thanks to 48-year-old Tukaram Omble who held Kasab’s gun with both hands and refused to let it go. Kasab emptied the magazine in Omble’s stomach. The other cops killed Ismail who was pairing Kasab and captured the latter. This much they owed Omble who made the supreme sacrifice.
It’s still not clear where exactly the idea for the attack on Mumbai came from. Several officers from Pakistan’s intelligence agency helped LeT with crucial parts of the plan. For Headley it did not make much difference as he was on board regardless. In the spring of 2006 Headley was officially entrusted with the mission. He was to disguise himself as an American on vacation or business trip to India. So he travelled to the America to change his official but very Pakistani name – Daood Gilani to David Coleman Headley. He got a new passport with his American name. From then on he would conceal his Muslim background and instead pass himself off as a Jewish or Christian American.
For Headley, Jihad was a way to become clean. A large portion of Headley’s past – his drug smuggling, drinking, womanising – was one great Muslim sin, one that he could remedy through Jihad. Jihad was ‘the most selfless act” a true Muslim could devote himself to as that promised jihadists a place in Paradise.
Today Headley is prisoner 39828-066 in a top secret prison at a secret address ‘somewhere in the US’ as part of the FBI’s protection of criminal witnesses. Headley dreams that one day his life will become a book. Perhaps even a movie. It is an incredible story of David Headley, the Pakistani American mastermind behind the 26/11 attacks. That day dawned bright in Mumbai, but the day would colour the city red before ending on a horrifying note.
Ten LeT terrorists carried out a dozen coordinated shootings and bombings across the metropolis killing 116 people and injuring 208. Sorensen is an investigative journalist and has covered terrorism and Islamic affairs extensively. He has lived in New York and travelled to Pakistan, Yemen and Iran and covered the Arab Spring during the violent clashes in Tahrir square in Cairo, Egypt, in 2011. He lives in Copenhagen in Denmark. An amazing and highly compelling book.
